They came.The family were assembled in the breakfast room to receive them. Smiles decked the face of Mrs. Bennet as the carriage drove up to the door;her husband looked impenetrably grave;her daughters,alarmed,anxious,uneasy.
Their sister's wedding day arrived;and Jane and Elizabeth felt for her probably more than she felt for herself.The carriage was sent to meet them at―,and they were to return in it by dinner-time.Their arrival was dreaded by the elder Miss Bennets, and Jane more especially, who gave Lydia the feelings which would have attended herself,had she been the culprit,and was wretched in the thought of what her sister must endure.
Elizabeth could bear it no longer.She got up,and ran out of the room;and returned no more,till she heard them passing through the hall to the dining parlour.She then joined them soon enough to see Lydia,with anxious parade,walk up to her mother's right hand,and hear her say to her eldest sister,
“Well, mamma,”said she, when they were all returned to the breakfast room,“and what do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck.They must all go to Brighton.That is the place to get husbands.What a pity it is, mamma,we did not all go.”
“Oh! mamma, do the people hereabouts know I am married to-day? I was afraid they might not; and we overtook William Goulding in his curricle, so I was determined he should know it,and so I let down the side-glass next to him,and took off my glove,and let my hand just rest upon the window frame,so that he might see the ring,and then I bowed and smiled like anything.”